Metallica Have Begun Mixing New Album; Hear Teaser of James Hetfield’s Guest Spot on Heart’s New Song

Can we get a "Yeahhh-ahh!?" Metallica have been providing fans with updates throughout the year regarding their highly-anticipated successor to 2008's Death Magnetic and now the biggest update yet has come: the thrash icons have begun mixing the new record. Fans anxious to hear James Hetfield on a new recording will have to look elsewhere first, as the frontman has made a guest appearance on a forthcoming Heart album.

Breaking the news was Dan Nykolayko, who conducted an interview with Hetfield and Lars Ulrich about the 20th anniversary of Load for the Met-Club fan club. Before jumping into the interview, Nykolayko provided some background information and stated, "I managed to corner Lars and James at HQ before they locked themselves in the control room with Greg Fidelman to start mixing the new album."

Towards the end of May, Ulrich commented on the forthcoming record, telling Metal Forces, “We’re now coming towards the end of the musical creative process and we’re starting to look ahead and the process of how we’re gonna share this record with the universe. The month of June is basically when we’re gonna sit down and figure what we’re gonna do with it all; what we’re gonna call it and what’s gonna be on it.”

It seems Hetfield can't get enough of the studio, having lent his vocal talents to the iconic Heart and their new song "Beautiful Broken," the title track off their new album arriving July 8 on Concord Records. A teaser sample can be heard in the video below. The track is driven by thumping bass and the Metallica frontman can be heard at the 0:17 mark echoing the song's title.

Metallica are eyeing a 2016 release for their new record, which Ulrich has backed, though he has not committed to this, stating, "If the record doesn’t come out this year then it won’t be because it’s not done. It will be because there’s some sort of cosmic reason that it would be smarter to hold onto it until next year. But the record will be done this summer.”

Hear Heart's "Beautiful Broken" Teaser Featuring James Hetfield

See Where Metallica's Albums Landed on the Top 80 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1980s